help me reinstall os on mac - noob question

[_Jimlad_]

Hey guys, im not an apple man, but mate has a newish mac and a broken cd drive. my brother gave me the latest os on a installable usb drive and said 'u will work it out' before swanning off to Italy.

i what i need to achieve is > format the drive (still has a os on) and then install using the usb stick with the os on...

help..

 

[_Jimlad_]

no its not, it was used on this same mac just two weeks ago, i saw him do it

he chucked the usb stick on, booted up, pressed a key, got into disc managment and formated the drive, rebooted then pressed a key and did the usb install

 

[_Jimlad_]

What he probably did was a Restore of the Installn DVD to the usb drive. What you'll need to do is stick the usb stick in and upon bootup press the option key and it'll bring up which drive you want to boot off; select the usb drive and away you go (assuming your bro has done the restore job)

that sounds about right, can i just ask two dumb questions, what is the option key (i don't have mac with me) and will that format too?

 

[_Jimlad_]

thank you very much. im a MCP as well

 

[_Jimlad_]

ps that worked a treat, his mac is now working